The Number Thirteen
by FabledOrange
Summary: [ch7 up] They deemed it unlucky, but to her, it was the most wonderful number of all. [RoxasxNamine, minor Larxel, possible spoilers]
1. Prologue

The Number Thirteen

Dedicated to all the Sora/Kairi and Roxas/Namine fans, who remind me I'm not alone.

* * *

"…and this would be your room."

Axel stuffed his hand in his pocket as he opened the door. Roxas was standing behind him, looking over his shoulder to take a look at his quarters. He wasn't really sure that what he was doing was the right thing – joining this so-called Organization. But what else was he to do? He couldn't even remember what happened to him – all he knew was that his name was Roxas, and that he was fifteen years old.

"Where's your room, Axel?" Roxas found himself asking. Axel made a sound, like he spat on the floor or something, and cocked his head to one side.

"What, you're gonna sneak in to my room when you get all scared at night?" he said acidly. He looked at Roxas with a look that clearly said 'what do I care', and turned on his heel.

Roxas glared at him. "No need to get all touchy."

"Whatever, kid," was the reply. "Look, just get to the meeting room when the big boss calls for it, alright? I don't want to be responsible for your ass if he gets all cranky. Got it memorized?"

The blonde boy blinked. "Er…right."

"Later."

And with those words, the redheaded man was out of his room, with his footsteps resounding through the halls. There was a great clap of thunder, and a gush of wind, and when Roxas poked his head out of his doorway, Axel was nowhere in sight.

"…weirdos." Roxas muttered, walking over to one of the many large windows that lined his bedroom. They started from the floor and reached high up to the ceiling, ending in insignias which he could recall tattooed on the foreheads of the Nobodies. The pale orange light that came from the sky cast shadows along the white marble floor of his room, along with his own.

Hopefully his stay here would be quite meaningful.

o o o

It had been a few days since he arrived at the strange estate that man named Xemnas had brought him to. Not that it had been a bore at all – no, it was definitely far from that – but the antics of the rest of the residents were getting quite old. The death threats that came from every direction and darting to every person apparently was a normal occurrence, as Axel had told him.

Roxas shuffled his feet along the white corridor. Today was a bit different – just a bit, though. A few floors below Demyx and Marluxia were fighting it out, with Marluxia often taunting the sitar-boy that he was useless and that the only thing he was doing was helping his flowers grow. The only comebacks that Demyx could come up with were that Marluxia was obviously gay, and that he had the hots for Axel, which made Axel retort with a wall of flames.

In other words, it was a melee downstairs.

Roxas was never the one for noise. He would prefer to space out while sitting on the edges of clock towers while staring at the sunset, actually. Or just dream about this weird other half of his and his other half's memory, something to that effect. Seeing that there were no clock towers in the estate, and that all that there was was this strange white castle they were all living in, Roxas made it a choice to explore all of it until he knew every nook and cranny.

He had come across it yesterday, as he spaced out once again and stared out of his window-lined room, he saw a tall tower quite a distance away. He had asked Axel what it was, since apparently Axel was the only person who was safe enough to approach.

"What's that over there?" he asked.

"That tower? Why?"

"What do you mean 'why'?"

"Why are you asking me what that tower was?"

"I was just curious."

"Better stop being curious, it killed the cat."

And with that, their conversation ended. Not that Roxas didn't have anything to retort, like he'd be better off dead, but because Larxene just teleported into the hall and charged at Axel with her kunais.

"You bastard! Where did you put my book!"

Axel took a step back as Larxene stopped in front of him, face close to his, eyes narrowed in fury.

"What book?"

"You asshole!"

Seeing that Axel was in no condition to answer him if he asked any more, Roxas had decided that he'd go to that tower on his own to see what that tower was all about.

And so there he was. Walking down the (always) white corridor that led to (hopefully) the tower he had seen, avoiding the growing ruckus downstairs. It _was _better to explore the castle anyway, because he knew that if he stayed downstairs long enough he'd get dragged into the fight as well.

Finally, after a few minutes of climbing a spiral staircase, he arrived at a door – it was large and white (like everything else) with golden handles. He took one and opened the door.

And was surprised at what he saw.

When Roxas thought he'd never be sick of the color white, he was wrong. When he entered the room, all he saw was white – white ceiling, white curtains, white floor, white walls. The furniture were white, and so were the pillars that lined the room. The only splashes of color he saw were the gold decorations on the chandelier and the gold lines on the table and chairs. And the shade of white was different, compared to the rest of the castle – the other rooms were white, but sort of darker compared to this. If it was possible, this room was blindingly white, whiter than the rest of the estate.

"Argh," Roxas grunted, squinting and shielding his face with his hand as the whiteness of it all blinded him. "Why is everything so damn white around here –

"…Sora?"

The boy blinked. And blinked, and blinked. It took him a while to get used to the overwhelming whiteness, but once he did, he was surprised.

…how could a girl like _her_ live in a place like this?

* * *

Author's notes: Ooh, chaptered Roxas/Namine? Are you kidding me? 

Well, no. Not kidding.

I do hope to continue this. Their love is just so tragic. So help them not to be tragic by reviewing. :D

P.S: Let's just ignore the fact that by the time this happens, half of the Org members are supposed to be dead….if we follow canon. What are Roxas/Namines called, anyway? We have Sorettes and Sokairis and Kaioras…

Heeheehee.


	2. The First Six

The Number Thirteen

- the first six -

* * *

"…Sora?"

Roxas blinked a couple of times, waiting for his eyes to get used to the whiteness. He had heard that name before – Sora – he just didn't know when, or who had said it. But he was sure that this Sora wasn't him, and in order to retaliate, he put down his hand and looked for the person who called him.

He was surprised, to say the least, that a girl like her was living in a place like this. A place where a group of (most probably) deranged people ran around with large weapons at hand, all dressed in seemingly nothing but black cloaks, throwing death threats and insults every minute of every day. To him the place was utterly chaotic, filled with insane morons who apparently had nothing better to do but battle each other in hallways. He was actually surprised that no one seemed to stop them from their daily melees.

To see someone like her in this place was something out of the ordinary indeed.

"…do you live here…?" Roxas found himself asking, once he had reached the high table the girl was sitting by. "I haven't seen you before."

The girl put a crayon she was holding and looked at him – she was at his eye level, with her bright blue eyes peering into his. She had paused for a moment, seemingly trying to find the right words to use, dangling her legs over the edge of the high chair.

"I…haven't seen you before, either." She said. Her voice was soft and quite small, but it fit her just right. She then looked at him closely, as if examining his face. "Are you new?"

"New?" Roxas asked. "Er…I guess you can say that. I arrived here a week ago."

The girl picked up the crayon and went back to her sketchpad, which was lying before her on the tabletop. She went back to work and started to ignore Roxas, who was beginning to get curious of what she was drawing, and had decided to take illegal peeks.

"Hey," he said, now standing on his tiptoes to get a better look. It was getting a bit too silent for his taste, and the continuous dashes that the girl's crayons made against the paper weren't really able to ease his disquiet. "What are you drawing?"

"Nothing." the girl answered, voice quiet, keeping her eyes sharp on the paper.

Roxas stood there, silent. Obviously, the girl wasn't drawing 'nothing' – how stupid did he look for her to believe that he'd take that as an answer? From the small glimpses he managed to scrape together what appeared to be a beach – that definitely wasn't 'nothing'. Getting the feeling that he was unwanted in the too-white room, he took a step back from the table and ran a hand through his spiky blonde hair.

"Look," he said, shifting his gaze to the walls. He squinted for a moment, trying to find the right words to use without sounding too rude. "I'm sorry if I barged in here like this, I really didn't mean it – it was just, it's dangerous downstairs and this tower sort of intrigued me –

He wasn't able to continue what he was supposed to say, though.

"Oh no, I'm really sorry." The girl said, again in her soft voice. She had put her crayon down again and hopped off her high chair; she walked towards Roxas, barefoot, a small sheepish smile etched on her lips. "It's just that…I rarely get visitors… I… I don't really know –

Roxas rubbed the back of his head and laughed nervously. His heart beat fast against his ribcage. Now why didn't he think of that? "No, no, it's okay. It was my fault, after all –

"But you're new," she reasoned, twiddling with her fingers and looking down at her bare feet. Apparently she left her sandals under the table and didn't bother to put them on. "It's not your fault, maybe they didn't inform you yet –

"…inform me of what?"

Right at this moment, Roxas peered down at her, blinking. The girl took a step back – she placed a hand near her chest and looked away, a light blush racing across her cheeks. Roxas straightened himself up and looked at her, waiting for her answer.

"…that I'm a witch."

o o o

"Where have you been off to?"

Roxas turned around to see a redheaded man marching down his way. The green marks on his face were disrupted by two small gashes, both having a small amount of blood trickle down his cheeks. He definitely looked pissed off, judging by his furrowed eyebrows and his narrowed eyes, with the addition that he had a straight line for a mouth.

"What happened to you?"

"Demyx apparently got hold of Larxene's book and told her I stashed it somewhere." He grunted, catching up to the blonde boy after a few long strides. His black cloak joined Roxas's as they headed towards the dining room. "She charged down at me and did this –" he motioned towards his face, "—with her kunais."

"Oh, I see." Roxas replied. Axel getting into a fight wasn't really surprising. "What did you do to Demyx, then?"

"Couldn't find him," Axel answered, annoyed. He took a gloved finger and wiped the blood off his face. "I bet he's slinking around the upper floors so that I won't be able to attack him. 'Ch, I can kill him any time I want to, actually."

"Then why don't you?"

"Too messy. Don't want blood all over my cloak."

Roxas laughed. If you actually ignore his rather short temper and his impatience, plus the weird green marks on his face, Axel was a pretty nice guy.

"Speaking of upper floors…where have _you_ been off to?" Axel suddenly asked, turning to the boy with an inquisitive look on his face. Roxas looked up at him, surprised that the redhead would actually care.

"…nowhere, really."

Axel made a derisive sound. "Really. You know, you can't really hide anything that happens in this castle, you know."

"You said 'you know' twice."

"I know." The man grinned and placed his hand atop Roxas's head, giving it a nice ruffling, before heading to the door.

Roxas didn't really know why he didn't tell Axel about his little visit. There was nothing to hide from him, after all – he just met a girl on one of the estate's many towers, who apparently wasn't used to people that much. He only met a girl that had bright blonde hair and bright blue eyes, a girl who looked so frail and delicate that he was afraid that she'd break when touched. A girl who liked to draw and liked to dangle her feet over edges of high places and leave her sandals behind…

He stood there in front of the dining room door, staring at his hands. He ticked off his fingers one by one. So far, from his first visit, he already knew six things about this mysterious girl.

But because of his somewhat rampant vagueness, he forgot to ask what her name was.

o o o

The sunlight blared through the many windows that lined his bedroom. Waking up to the warmth of the sun wasn't really that bad, but when it was matched with the screams of hatred and pain that came from the other side of the wall, Roxas preferred to not wake up at all.

"Will you just stop about the stupid book!"

"I was already nearing the end, you bastard! Now tell me where you put it or else I'll cut your –

"Why won't you just search the castle yourself! I told you, I don't have a fricking – damn it –

A clap of thunder roared through the castle.

"You're going to wake up Saïx if you continue this!"

Roxas ran a hand through his hair. That was Axel.

"If you'd just give me my damn book back, you won't get clobbered!"

The boy sighed. That was Larxene.

He got out of bed and tried to ignore the battle cries and grunts that came from the other side of the wall. He dressed himself up in his usual cloak after refreshing himself with a shower and tried to think of his plans for the day, all the while messing up his hair with a free hand. But even after going through his morning routine, the two outside were still at it, hurling strings of profanities and insults at each other, often accompanied with booms and bangs.

Deciding that it would be nice to get the girl's name today, Roxas headed to the door.

"What is it with you today!" he could hear the swishing of the wind that probably came from Axel's chakrams. "PMS-ing!"

"Shut the hell up, you son of a –

Before Larxene could finish her string of insults, there was a loud bang – apparently Axel had run out of places to step back to, and he collided with Roxas's door as soon as Roxas had stood up and opened it. In came Axel, tumbling, followed by a Larxene who had been running after him, apparently unaware that Axel was going to fall down to the floor.

Roxas looked down at the pair, all lying in a heap of black cloaks.

Axel grinned. The slashes on his cheeks were gone.

Larxene looked up at him, hand pressed against Axel's chest, pushing herself away from the redheaded man.

"Er…" Roxas started, not knowing what to say.

Axel grinned wider.

"'morning."

* * *

Author's notes: yeah, I know the Roxas/Namine's starting off in a slow pace – I promise more things will come. As for the Axel/Larxene…well, I do like the pairing, and if you don't and you'd prefer the Roxas/Namine one, just…er, ignore them. Also, rating's changed to T due to Axel's dirty language. heeheehee.

Plenty of thanks to my first reviewers and the people who put this story in the C2s and their fave lists:D

P.S.: Apparently (after talking with many KH fans), this story can happen with all the Org members alive and well. But Namine would have no idea who Sora was (maybe an inkling) – if put into the canon KH timeline, this will happen before CoM. So...er, yeah.

…I'm thinking too much. Thank you for your support and please review :D


	3. Roxas, we have Lift Off

The Number Thirteen

- Roxas, we have Lift Off-

* * *

He placed his bright blue eyes on his shoes, which were the only ones that were making noise throughout the corridor. Having left Axel and Larxene on the floor a few moments ago, his shoes were the only source of noise right now.

There was a gush of wind, and a hand slapping itself onto his back – Roxas staggered forward at the strength of the impact.

"What the –

"Where are you off to?"

Roxas regained his footing and looked at his side to see Axel grinning at him. He raised his eyebrows.

"What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?"

The boy blinked. "…"

"If you were wondering, I teleported right under Larxene and made her crash onto the floor." Axel said, quite in a proud tone. He held his chin up as Roxas resumed his walking, striding alongside the blonde boy. "So, where are you off to, Roxas?"

"You're uncharacteristically happy today," Roxas commented. "And to where I'm going, nowhere, actually."

"Idiot," The older member said, again making his apparently favorite derisive sound. "You shouldn't wander aimlessly around this castle. Might discover things you would never want to see in your life."

"And what's that?"

"Luxord dancing in his underwear."

Roxas almost blew his brain out of his nose. "What!"

"Trust me, it was horrible," Axel said, throwing his hands in the air and placing them behind his head, flattening a few spikes of hair. "I was going to borrow a deck of cards since I wanted to pin Demyx on a spinning wheel and throw some cards at him, but when I entered his room he was there, dancing in his heart-specked underwear."

"You have got to be kidding me," Roxas replied after a fit of laughter, "There is no way I'd believe you, Luxord dancing in his underwear…"

"And yet we have Marluxia who has pink hair and controls _flowers_," The redheaded man smirked. "…insisting he's not _gay._"

The boy grinned. "Well, you do have a point."

Silence ensued between the two as they continued on walking further. Roxas kept his eyes on the path while Axel looked around, occasionally stopping.

"Oh right, Roxas, you never answered me."

"Huh?"

"On where you're going." Axel stated. "But from the looks of it, you're going to the Tower, aren't you?"

Roxas stared at him, looking flustered. He sort of forgot that Axel had tagged along, and now that the man knew where he was going, he felt embarrassed. It was just like Axel to laugh at him because he wanted to see a girl; maybe it was the reason why he didn't want Axel to know where he had been the day before.

"Er…" he started, not knowing what words to use, "…yeah."

"Finally saw her, huh?" the man asked, quite a matter-of-factly. "I told you, you can't hide anything in this castle."

"I wasn't hiding it," Roxas tried to defend himself, looking up at Axel with indignant eyes. "I was just –

"But you told me you were off nowhere, Roxas." Axel answered him. Roxas frowned – why did Axel have to have such sharp memory? "Don't worry, I won't take her away from you."

The boy became more flustered at that, but decided to answer in a cooler sort of way. "Of course you won't, you already have Larxene."

"Hey!" The redhead cried, "That's not funny and you know it!"

Roxas stuck out his tongue for an answer. Axel again made a derisive noise and ignored this, but still continued to walk beside him as they headed towards the tower.

Curiosity (again) took hold of the youngest member and he decided to break the silence that started to fall upon him and his friend (if you could call him a friend). He had it on his mind for quite a while now – well, not really, more like ever since he had known it – on what the girl had meant by her words. '_I'm a witch', _she had said in her small, soft voice; it was a phrase that really didn't match her.

Originally, he was supposed to ask her what she had meant by that, but she had quickly dismissed him and gently pushed him out of the room, saying that if someone saw him there, he'd be dead meat.

Maybe that was why Axel had told him to stop being curious…maybe going to the tower would get him killed…

"Hey Axel," Roxas started, gaining the man's attention. "Do you know the girl up in that tower?"

"Oh, Naminé?"

"Naminé?" The boy repeated. "Is that her name?"

"You dolt, you don't even know her name?"

"I was going to _ask,_" Roxas pointed out, "But the conversation went to something like she was a witch and she then told me that if someone found out I was there I'd get in trouble –

He wasn't able to continue his sentence; Axel suddenly had this far-off look on his face, as if something hard had struck him. It looked like as if he was processing quite a long string of thoughts in his head, and being the curious boy he was, Roxas broke his train of thought.

"Axel?"

"Oh yeah, right," the redhead said, a bit absentminded. "Sorry 'bout that. She's a nice girl, Naminé."

"I can tell," Roxas said. "But I sort of feel bad for her – it's like she's never let out of that place." He paused for a moment, furrowing his eyebrows together as they continued to walk along the corridor. The white pair of doors that ended the hall was not that far away from where they were now, and was getting closer with each step.

"…is it true, though, Axel? That she's a witch?" he suddenly said, his voice taking on a low tone. The fire-user peered closer at the blonde and put a slight smile on his face.

"Hmm, how can I say this…she's not the despicable kind, Roxas," Axel explained. "But she does have a set of extraordinary powers. I guess that's why we ended up calling her a witch."

A simple 'oh' came out of the boy's lips. They stopped right before the double doors, silence again enveloping the two of them. Axel scratched the back of his head and grinned, noticing the troubled look that was etched on Roxas's face.

"Don't worry about it," Axel said. "She was just looking out for you. I'm sure the Superior wouldn't kill you." He finished with a laugh.

"Thanks." Roxas replied, letting a small smile crack his lips. He was about to open the door when all of a sudden, something whizzed past his ear. He looked towards Axel to see him half-bended over, backwards, apparently successful in dodging the kunai lodged on one of the doors.

"Oh god." He heard Axel mutter. He turned around to see Larxene panting heavily, darkness slowly dissipating at her feet, fingers clutching a set of yellow-tinged kunai.

Roxas groaned. This was just not going to end.

"I'm not done with you!" Larxene cried, once Axel got to his feet and started to summon his corridor of darkness. "Don't you _dare_ run away, you bastard!"

Axel stepped into his corridor and smirked. "Unfortunately for you, I _do _dare. See ya, Roxas!"

The woman ignored the boy and immediately leapt over to where Axel stepped into. "You are _not_ going to get away this time!"

* * *

"Hello, Naminé."

She flicked her head upwards, trying to find the source of the voice. It was boyish and a bit rough, but it was boyish, nonetheless – it sounded very much like the boy's voice from yesterday.

Her blue eyes met his, and her lips slightly parted – she didn't expect him to come here again, after what she had said the day before. Surely, if the Superior found out that the boy had been coming here, she'd be in trouble. She had been given instructions to not talk to the boy, due to a high chance that he'd be lured to find out about what he really was. She herself had tried to find out who she _really _was, and what she had found out wasn't exactly something she wanted to know – the Superior was keen on not letting the boy experience the same tragedy.

The boy now walked over to her, standing by the same edge of the table, a small smile etched on his lips.

"What are you doing today?" he asked. "Drawing again?"

Naminé nodded. She swung her feet alternately and put the yellow crayon she was using down. "How did you know my name?"

"Axel told me," he replied simply. He again stood on his tiptoes to get a better look – apparently there was no other chair except for the one Naminé was sitting on.

"Oh," she replied. She watched him look at her drawings with interest, hoping she'd get a good reaction from him. "Axel's a nice person – he sometimes visits."

"I almost forgot," the boy said, looking up at her; Naminé moved back a bit, quite startled. "I'm Roxas, by the way. I haven't introduced myself yesterday."

He extended a gloved hand and smiled at her, using a grin. She hesitated for a moment, but eventually accepted it, shaking hands with him for a short while.

"I'm Naminé," she replied, also with a smile. "It's nice to meet you, Roxas."

"Same here. Actually, I thought you'd be angry at me for coming back here – you know, since you told me I'd get in trouble if I do. But…" Roxas stopped himself and looked back down at the drawing, trying to hid a pink streak that started to race across his cheeks. "…I had nothing to do, so…I thought it would be nice to –

"Oh no, it's okay," Naminé said, waving her hands in guise of hiding her embarrassment. Why she felt flustered, she really didn't know, but she had to hide it. "It's…it's nice that someone wants to see me."

Roxas inwardly smiled.

"So…what's this about?" he asked, referring to the picture. Naminé quickly regained from her stupor and looked at her drawing too. "Was this the beach you've been drawing yesterday?"

Roxas looked at it carefully as he took the sketchpad and studied the drawing, at the same time relaxing his toes and standing back on his heels. It indeed was a drawing of a beach; the sand was exemplified by brown and tan-colored dots and a few yellow scribbles. The sea and the waves were defined by aquamarine and royal blue dashes, with a few white dots and curves. Also, there was a crooked tree, looking very much like a palm, which stood at the center, surrounded by tropical foliage.

Naminé nodded. She really didn't know why she wanted to draw a beach yesterday, the idea just floated into her mind. But her train of thoughts was disrupted when she realized that Roxas had been standing beside the table for all the while he was there.

"Wait a minute." Naminé said, concentrating on Roxas's black boots. The boy seared his eyes from the paper and looked at where she was staring at, and then looked back at Naminé.

"Is there something wrong?" he asked; he then noticed the white sandals that were seemingly forgotten on the floor. "Was I supposed to take of my shoes? I'm sorry, I didn't notice – there was no – _whoa!"_

All of a sudden, he was lifted off the ground – it was like a giant, invisible hand picked him up by the hood of his cloak. He swung his feet a few times, the drawing still in his hand as he swung those too; Naminé giggled for a bit as she watched Roxas struggled with the force that was holding him on air.

"Wha – what's happening, Naminé?" he asked, voice a bit panicky. Naminé simply waved a hand as threads of light blue materialized below him and formed a chair.

"I'm just giving you a seat," she replied, watching him as the invisible hand lowered him into the chair. "You've been standing there for too long."

Roxas, as soon as he was let down from the air and settled into the high chair, smiled sheepishly and scratched the back of his head, looking flustered.

"…oh."

* * *

Author's notes: 2k+ words.

Sorry if the image of Luxord dancing in his underwear scarred you. I was actually thinking of Xigbar or Xaldin or even Xemnas doing the dance, but the other three seem to have more self-respect and more likely to lock their doors if ever they do dance in their underwear.

I'm sort of worried that they're not in character – if they aren't, it would be nice to comment on it. :D It's like everybody came off nice in this chapter (except for Larxene, of course).

Plenty of thanks to my reviewers, people who put this in the C2s and their fave lists!

Reviews are greatly, greatly appreciated :D

P.S: Ack?'s and !'s are not allowed to be together anymore! o.o i'm fond of using that tandem, but due to some twisted programming whenever i use ? and ! it only displays ! . So, if you have encountered weird sentences that should've been questions but read as exclamations, then you know why. :D i've been away for too long.

Again, reviews greatly appreciated!


	4. The Next Three

The Number Thirteen

- the next three -

* * *

It was amazing, Roxas thought, that the day almost came to its end – to him, it strangely felt as if it had just begun. Unknowingly he had spent all day up in the once-called mysterious tower, swinging his legs alternately over the edge of his high, white chair, with his eyes focused on the tips of the crayons as they dashed across the paper.

Also amazingly, it wasn't tedious as he would think it was – watching her draw. It was as entertaining as watching Larxene and Axel brawl along the many hallways of the castle (although in a more subdued, subtle way), or watch the look on Luxord's face whenever Vexen accidentally rolls his test tubes down the table and send the man's house of cards tumbling into a pile.

He had made her pause more than a few times during the day. Whenever there was something that sparked his curiosity he would speak up and startle her. Like, 'why did you draw this' or 'how come that tower's crooked' or 'do you ever run out of paper'.

Normally she would just smile and answer all of his questions, still in her small, sweet voice, accompanied by a pair of smiling blue eyes. But after a handful (while coloring a sketch of a white-and-blue castle), her response was varied by a giggle.

"You're very curious, aren't you?" she had said. This made Roxas turn his head in his palm (as he was resting it there on a propped elbow) and grin.

"Well, not my fault – I haven't seen someone draw like you do."

Naminé had raised her eyebrows in curiosity. "Really? You're joking."

"Er, I've seen Demyx try, once." He had replied. "He apparently had the nerve to draw a picture of Marluxia and Zexion in dresses having a tea party on Marluxia's wall. But it was in stick figures, so I can definitely say you are better than him." Roxas had finished with a grin. Apparently, what he had said had made Naminé laugh in amusement; surprisingly, she mad his heart skip a couple of beats.

Luckily though, he had himself under control and had quickly averted his gaze to the drawing of the castle before him.

With his eyes set before him, Roxas started to evaluate his day. It wasn't bad, norwas it perfect – it was, in all probability, just right. He had gathered a few new bits of information about the girl he had met yesterday – that her name was Naminé, that she was a witch and that she had a set of extraordinary powers (largely attested by her conjuring of a chair out of nowhere). Although most of these he would've preferred to get from Naminé herself, getting it from a source like Axel was alright.

He paused, ticking everything he knew (so far), off his fingers. He grinned and started to make his way towards the dining room again – just after his second visit, and he already knew nine.

He knew it was a bit slow, but who cares – he still had plenty of time to get to know her, anyway.

Shuffling his feet along the marble floor of the castle, Roxas inwardly grinned to himself as he shoved his gloved hands into his pockets. Overall, the day had been nice – to his triumph at teasing Axel, to bidding Naminé a goodbye as the sun started to set. She had made it clear with him that she wasn't allowed to see anyone after sunset, so in order to respect her wish, the boy made it sure to be out of the tower by dusk.

"Yo loverboy," he heard a voice say, coming after a rush of air. He made a face (it played out the 'ha-ha-very-funny' look quite well) and turned around to see Axel marching down his way, just like yesterday. "How's your day?"

"Pretty good," Roxas answered, still having that ha-ha-very-funny look on his face. Axel laughed and slapped his hand across the boy's back.

"Just a little revenge for your retort this morning," the redhead said with a grin, "No need to get all _touchy_."

Roxas smirked as they started to walk towards the dining room in a much similar fashion as yesterday. "You know, your lines don't work if you're just going to copy me."

"Hah," Axel said, again with the derisive noise, "_Touché_, loverboy. But –" He tapped Roxas's nose twice, making the boy look at his nose and scrunch up his face, "Don't get all cocky."

And then the redhead stuck out his foot and made the boy fall flat on the floor with a bam.

"You –

The older member looked down at him, pulled down a lower eyelid and stuck out his tongue. "Sucker."

As Roxas started to pull himself off of the floor, Axel's loud laughter rang throughout his ears. He furrowed his eyebrows and kneeled on one knee against the marble, dusting off his cloak.

"That's not fair, Axel!" he cried out as the redhead started to wave his hand at him in dismissal as he walked off. "That's physical abuse!"

He was waiting for an answer, a sharp, witty comeback – but what he got was a few steps backward, a gush of wind, and a pair of silver-red chakrams that spun in the air.

"That's not physical abuse," said a voice, low and rumbling in its sinister tone.

Roxas blinked. And then, there was a flash of yellow and blue; Larxene had appeared and had summoned her kunais in a downward slash, missing Axel by millimeters as the latter stepped back. Roxas blinked again and stared at the two of them, still on one knee and with one hand resting on his lap; they looked quite perfect for a showdown. There they were, standing in an all-white corridor, with the setting sun framed in a handful of tall, grilled windows, and their shadows cast along the marble floor.

"…this is."

There was a flurry of black, red and yellow; then there were clashes of metal against metal, with thumps and shoe squeaks and thundering footsteps. Roxas had made it a point to stay out of hallway melees, so he teleported himself to the other end of the corridor where Larxene had come from and resumed his walk towards the dining room. He thought it was going to be the same all over again – Axel screaming for Larxene to stop her stupidity, then Larxene answering that she's screaming because of _his_ stupidity, and then Axel getting away due to some dirty trick, leaving the woman heaving breaths of irritation and then chasing after him. But today was as good as it was different – Roxas found himself stopping mid-step when he heard what Axel said.

"It's not with me, alright!" Axel had screamed, after gaining hold of his chakrams and holding them in front of his face. Larxene didn't stop and continued to slash in his general direction, sparks flying off as her kunai hit his makeshift shield.

"Demyx lied to you and stashed it somewhere in the fricking castle, so stop harassing me!"

The slashes stopped, the sparks faded out; Roxas turned around to see Axel leaning backwards (again), with Larxene leaning into him, pressing her kunai-laden fists against his chakrams. She was breathing heavily and had her mouth open, as if she was going to say something but forgot what it was going to be.

He blinked.

"Well, that turned out good." Roxas said.

* * *

The light in her room glowed in a soft white, illuminating it from the rest of the darkness that had swallowed the sky outside. It was already well into the night, and normally she would've already fallen asleep; but what hat occurred that day was so out of her routine that she could not help but recalling it in her mind.

She had been found by him wandering the streets of Traverse Town, looking completely odd against the brick walls and streets. How and why she got there, she didn't really know – she was searching for something, but even that she had no clue of. It was just a feeling, a hunch – she just wanted to find something… she had this thirst to know something…

…even just a little bit of anything would have been fine…

But he had found her, and told her that he knew what she was searching for. Even though she didn't know what it was exactly, she had nodded and followed him, clinging on a small thread of hope that her disquiet would finally come to an end. Besides, she had nothing else to do, and nowhere else to go – maybe the man would give some meaning to her life, an inkling of what she was supposed to do.

So he brought her to this castle – this strange, eclectic Castle, filled with equally strange and eclectic people. They were not that many, at first – just a handful, maybe eight or so; as time passed they came to multiply. But she never was considered as one of them – she was never given a black coat, never given a weapon, never given a place marker at the Proof of Existence. She was given a special room, though, just like everybody else – well, not really like everybody else; she was given a whole tower. It was all white.

She had asked why she had no weapon, no black cloak, no place marker at the room when the Superior visited her.

"Because you're different," the Superior had said. "You're unique from everyone else."

After a simple 'oh', she only nodded at this. It sounded strange, coming from him. It didn't seem as if she was unique at all – it was as if he was an apathetic man who just wanted a kid to shut up and decided to say a line he heard from a soap opera to make the kid stop.

And then he had handed her a sketchpad and a box of crayons.

"These will be your weapons," he said, leaving the items to her care. She looked up at him in surprise, but he looked back at her with unfeeling orange eyes.

It seemed very strange.

"You can use them however you want." He had said.

And with those words he had teleported himself out of her tower. Back then, she was still allowed to wander throughout the castle – that was hoe she was able to meet all of the other members. Like Axel, who she met while she was taking a stroll around the library and found him playing with the fire in the fireplace. Or Demyx, who she found playing music to the fountain outside in the floating garden; it was there that she also met Marluxia, who was tending to the flowers. Also, it was in the Library that she met Larxene, who was reading a book titled _Marquis de Sade. _When she had ventured into the dungeons it was then she met Vexen and Zexion, who were working on a potion, and it was when she stumbled into a room in the upper floors that she met Lexaeus. The rest she had seen when they were at dinner; she was sitting with Demyx and Axel during that time when she saw the remaining members, aside from the Superior.

All in all, her life in the Organization was one she was satisfied with, until she had overheard a conversation she guessed she was never supposed to hear. It was between Xigbar and Xaldin, top two members of the Organization; they were in the garden.

She was mesmerized by the dancing figures that were occupying the sky – they were six lances, following each other in an intricate loop, swishing to and fro, slithering like graceful snakes in the air. She had never seen anything like it, and being the curious girl she was, Naminé stepped out into a balcony that was directly above the floating garden.

"Have you heard, Xaldin?" said a man in a gruff voice, taking a purple-white gun and running a cloth alongside its edges.

"About what?"

"About the boy – the Keyblade Master; I suppose the Superior has informed you of him?"

Naminé held her breath and looked down below; a main with an eye patch was sitting on the steps to the garden as a man with black hair stood in the center of the garden, swishing his hands to and fro, similar to the movement of the spears in midair.

"Ah yes…the Keyblade Master. I believe the Superior is going to inform the rest of the Organization this coming meeting."

"Never heard of anything like it, though," said the eye-patched man, looking at his gun as he did so. "…turning into a Heartless, then going back to normal. How the fricking hell did he do that?"

Naminé flinched – her brain started to throb a little; she grasped the balcony's railing, now ignoring the dancing spears.

"Must have been a miracle," the black-haired man replied. He moved his hand in a circular fashion, and the lances followed. "It does make you wonder though, doesn't it? …I wonder where his Nobody is."

"That's where Xemnas is heading now, I think. To get the Nobody and to use him for our sake…."

"…the Nobody of the Keyblade Master…Sora's Nobody. I wonder what he will look like."

Even though she wanted to hear more, her body had protested; she started to feel a headache coming on, and it was getting difficult to breathe. Slowly she made her way out of the balcony and into the hall, countless questions running through her head.

She had woken up the next day back in the safety of her own bed; she was back in her bedroom – apparently, after Xigbar and Xaldin's conversation she had blacked out, and someone carried her into her room.

"You okay now?"

Naminé looked around to see a redheaded man leaning against the wall of her room.

"Axel…?"

"You collapsed." He answered simply. He raised his head and looked at her with a serious look on his face. "You feeling alright?"

"I'm fine, I guess." Naminé replied, a bit disheartened; she had wanted to know more about this Keyblade Master – this Sora they were talking about, but her body didn't allow her to and forced her to stop.

"Well then, I'd better go – Superior's back and is calling a meeting." Axel said, stepping away from the hall and turning on his heel to go away. For a moment his footsteps were the only ones who made noise in the circular room, but soon enough, Naminé chose to join in.

"Wait!" she said, a bit louder than normal, making Axel stop in his tracks. "I want to know something – these Nobodies…Sora –

"Look," Axel began in a serious tone. He refused to face her. "Don't … don't bother with those. Just ignore them – they don't matter to you."

"But…they can't not matter to me," she replied, tone diminishing. "…what if he's the one I've been searching for? I mean, before I came here, I was looking for something…Xemnas told me I was going to find it and know it if I come with him…but I still don't know what I'm searching for –

"Just don't mind them," Axel muttered, resuming his long strides towards the door. "They…they don't matter to you."

Naminé clutched a handful of her white sheets and decided to retort.

"But what if they _do?" _she cried out, "Maybe I just don't know them right now, maybe I have no clue yet…but what if they do mean something to me? What if those things – the Keyblade Master, Sora, Nobodies – what if they are the things I'm searching for? Maybe if I find them…" her voice started to fade.

"…maybe I'll feel whole."

Her last statement was apparently something that lighted the somewhat short fuse that Axel had that day. He turned around sharply and stormed up to the foot of her bed, eyebrows knitted together in complex fury.

"Feel whole?" Axel repeated, mockery dripping from his voice. "_Feel whole!_ Are you kidding me, Naminé? We're _Nobodies – _we're shells of people, we're not supposed to exist! We're the other halves that were discarded after their heart succumbed to the darkness!"

The girl sat in her bed, handfuls of cloth still in between her fingers, eyes wide as the man started his tirade.

"You want to feel whole?" he asked. "Well, guess what – we're never meant to _be_ whole. The only way to do that is to find our Heartless selves again, and that is a task that can never be done. So unless you want to stay like this for the rest of your never-ending life, you should just shut up and do what you can to help Xemnas gain Kingdom Hearts – it's our only way to become whole. If you don't do that then you don't stand a fricking chance.

…got it memorized?"

* * *

Author's notes: Well, longer than expected, and an in-depth look at how Naminé exactly got into the Org. Also, I was looking for a spot to use Axel's catchphrase again, and this seemed perfect…so…sorry if it sounds so awkward to you… : D

About the chapter: I sort of made it like Xemnas found Naminé first compared to Roxas. Sorry if it confused you, but I promise, I'll make it clear in the next chapter. So stay tuned for that one!

Finally, all of the Org members are mentioned. I had a bit of trouble writing about Xigbar and Xaldin – I always mix them up. And as usual, Larxel action to spice the chap up. Also, since I think Demyx and Axel are the most approachable and friendly people in the Org, I made them friends with Naminé. :D

Next chap preview: The Org's Meeting, a few revelations to the Org about Naminé (explaining the error Axel made in his speech in this chap) and the Newcomer, and Roxas gets jealous. :D

So please support, and review!


	5. The First Five

The Number Thirteen

- the first four -

* * *

Silence ensued.

The tower was filled with twelve towering chairs, one taller than the other, lining the circular room like a columnar colonnade. They were all white, matching the marble floor and the white wall, with a stained glass piece of the Nobody insignia hovering over them on the high ceiling. From the ceiling a white chandelier hang, illuminating the meeting room with a soft, white glow, just like the one in Naminé's tower.

"Stop that."

Axel looked out from under his hood – Saïx was glaring at him from under his own hood, pointing at the redhead's hand. Axel shrugged and looked away from the seventh member – apparently Saïx was getting irritated with his finger-tapping and decided that the meeting would be best off without it.

The redheaded man frowned and continued to tap his finger against the armrest of his chair. Above his hooded head the roman number eight hovered, and above Saïx's was the number seven; but Axel had decided that even if the man was a rank higher than him, he wasn't going to take any orders from anyone that day.

The day wasn't particularly nice for him, actually. After keeping watch over the Superior's prized witch, he had flown into a rage – he knew it was no one's fault but his own. The girl was simply curious, as he was back when he first came here. She just wanted to be _whole…_

Axel hissed and made a derisive sound.

'_She's not the only one,'_ he said to himself, continuing his finger-tapping. '…_we all want to be.'_

But why did he shout at her, though? Why did he feel so angry when she mentioned it – the feeling of being incomplete, of wanting to be whole…?

'_Because it's hopeless,'_ he again murmured to himself. '_We can never be whole…how can we…?'_

"Axel, are you listening?"

There was a rush of whispers in the air as a deep voice broke his train of thoughts. Axel looked up and looked around the room to see who had addressed him so clearly – he reclined in his seat and stayed there when he realized who it was.

The Superior looked down at him from his chair, the highest in the room, with the number one etched on the top.

"Yes, sir." Axel muttered. He flicked his finger towards the ninth member, sending a small thread of fire slithering towards Demyx as he started to laugh. He also shot a glare at the two on the lowest chairs, who had the nerve to point at him and chuckle.

Apparently his point to not listen to anyone that day didn't prove to be that strong.

"Going back to business," the Superior said, ignoring the squabble that now had died on the lower part of the meeting room. "I have discovered that the Keyblade Master himself has turned into a Heartless. With a heart as strong as his, there is bound to be a Nobody of him wandering the worlds."

There were hushed whispers in the air as Xemnas paused.

"The miracle in this event is that the Keyblade Master was able to come back to his normal self," he continued, gaining the attention of the group of hooded people who sat circling him. They all looked up at the silver-haired man. "…a feat that never has been accomplished before. It is wise to theorize that the Keyblade Master willingly freed his heart and succumbed to the darkness…but now is not the time for that."

"Now that you have heard the Keyblade Master's special conditions, I now give you the assignments to scour the worlds for information about his Nobody. Due to the special circumstances I am sure that his Nobody is of great strength," he paused for dramatic effect, "…aside from having the ability to wield the all-powerful Keyblade."

Again, hushed whispers filled the air and excitement rang through their muted voices.

"Also, you probably have met Naminé, am I correct?" Xemnas asked his group. They all looked up at him again, black hoods seemingly blinking up at him. He looked further down to see one – the one in the ninth chair – nodding his head vigorously.

"She is of special birth as well," the Superior informed them. "You are to never harm her – she is a Nobody born from a Princess of Heart, apparently at the same time the Keyblade Master created his Nobody. Naminé is an asset to our goal of obtaining Kingdom Hearts, so see to it that she does not feel uncomfortable in our Castle in any way. Now, back to our plan – I have ventured into Traverse Town and Hollow Bastion, but there is no trace of him there. I was able to meet the Keyblade Master, though, and duel him for a short time…"

* * *

She actually had no idea on how the box of crayons was supposed to serve as a weapon. She blinked at them, examining the box – she turned it over on its side and then on its bottom, then opened the flap and inspected the corners. But they seemed ordinary – they didn't have razor-sharp edges, or built-in lasers.

Naminé sighed and took a crayon out. Maybe there was nothing else to do with them but draw. But she already drew a handful of pictures since the Superior left her the set – nothing happened with the pictures. They didn't spring to life, or move on their own. They just looked like normal pictures, normal sketches of a fifteen-year-old girl.

"Hey you, got some news."

She snapped her head up at hearing the voice. It was feminine, but there was something else to it – something sharp.

Naminé recognized her to be Larxene, the newest member of the Organization. She met her when she went to the library a few days ago, right before stumbling into Axel.

"Superior's got orders," Larxene said, crossing her legs as she leaned on the double doors of her room. "You're not supposed to leave this room."

The girl dropped her crayon.

"…I'm not supposed to –

"You heard me. Superior said you're not supposed to leave the room, or meet anyone for that matter." Larxene raised her eyebrows when she saw the look on the girl's face. "Look, I don't know why, he just told me to say it to you."

"But just yesterday I was allowed to go around the castle –

"Don't ask me. Maybe has something to do with the new kid."

With those words, the older blonde decided to leave, opening the door and closing it with a soft thud. Naminé stared after her, and kept on staring even if she was already gone.

What did the Superior mean by she wasn't supposed to go out anymore?

She picked up her crayon again and started to color the sketch she was working on. It was a sketch of a chapel – a worn-down chapel, with stained glass windows and purple columns.

"Have you heard the news, Naminé?"

A gush of wind filled her ears. A corridor of darkness formed beside her, and out stepped a man with long silver hair and a pair of orange eyes.

She didn't reply. She continued to color the purple pillars of the chapel, pressing hard on the paper.

"Naminé?"

"Why am I not allowed outside anymore?" she asked in a small voice, keeping her eyes on the paper. She moved on to another pillar, taking the lilac crayon and running it over the area.

"Larxene did her job." The Superior said, leaning over to her table as she continued to color her picture. Xemnas looked at it with interest – it was the chapel at Hollow Bastion. "Naminé, you must understand – it is for the good of the Organization if you stay in this room."

"Why?"

Xemnas took a deep breath. "Because the Keyblade Master's nobody is going to arrive soon…we cannot have you interacting with him."

Naminé bit her lip. Her strokes were getting uneven, and they were getting deeper than usual.

* * *

The sun shone through the windows that lined her white tower – it was already high noon, and he was nowhere in sight.

Namine sighed. The day got duller and duller as she started to doodle on one page of her sketch pad, taking the colors brown and blue and randomly dashing the crayons on the paper. She had expected that Roxas would come and begin his tirade of never-ending questions, but after eating her lunch and scooping up her dessert, the blonde boy was nowhere to be found.

With another sigh, Namine took a light blue crayon and stared at the empty space next to the blue-brown doodles. She gingerly wrote the number one.

Well, after two meetings, what did she know? Nothing much, really – that his name was Roxas, that he was a blonde boy who had his hair up in numerous spikes, matched with the brightest pair of blue eyes she had ever seen. That he was a curious boy, and she was thankful for it – if he wasn't curious, he never would have found her. Aside from those four, Roxas also had the habit of blinking and grinning…

Naminé looked at the once-empty space beside the doodles and smiled. Right after the number one, four more followed, with descriptions beside each one. She was about to smile, but when she caught a glimpse of the blue-brown doodles, she furrowed her eyebrows together

And then, a dash of inspiration hit her.

Roxas grunted and heaved himself up the spiral staircase – Demyx had been badgering him all day, crying that Larxene had taken his sitar and had kidnapped it. He told him that Axel told Larxene the truth, and that if he wants to see his sitar he should just give her the book back; but Demyx had apparently forgotten where he placed the book, and thus was now in deep trouble. The musician was about to ask if Roxas could help, but luckily for him Axel just taught him how to summon a portal and put his newly gained knowledge to good use.

Besides, he was running late for his meeting with Naminé.

He ran down the last corridor and grasped the golden handle; he swung the door open, and with a huge apologetic grin, he called out her name.

"Naminé!"

The girl looked at him, startled. She put her crayon down and hopped off her chair.

"Roxas! How come you look so tired…?" Naminé asked, stopping once she was near enough. The boy straightened himself up, trying to look okay, but he was still breathing in short gasps and sweat was running down his temple.

"I…ran all the way up here…" he said, his lips still in that huge apologetic grin.

She giggled. "Why didn't you just teleport here?"

"Oh…uh, yeah…I did sort of know how to do that."

The two erupted in laughter. It was a different kind of laughter – it was the infectious kind, the one that made you laugh when you heard someone laugh and it just makes a cycle that was sort of hard to stop. Sure, the reason for their laughter was quite shallow, but it was the shallowness that made them laugh anyway.

Roxas clutched his stomach as he tried to catch his breath, recovering from their fit of laughter. Naminé was doing the same, but in a more subtle manner (since Roxas was practically going to collapse).

"You okay?" he managed to get out of his lips.

"Perfectly fine." She replied.

"I'm sorry I'm late."

"Oh no, don't worry about that…" A blush raced across her cheek. "You're not obliged to come here anyway –

"It's not about that," Roxas said, grinning. "I… I actually wanted to…"

But his grin turned into a small smile and then he turned his head the other way. All his blood started to rush up his face as well.

He really wasn't good with girls. But leaving them hanging wasn't really polite, so he snapped his head up and tried to control the reddish tinge that was invading his face.

"So…what have you been up to?" he asked, changing the subject.

"Oh!" Naminé suddenly perked up, as if remembering something she had been trying to remember for a long time. "I…well, nothing much. Just a few pictures, nothing else…"

"Really?" Roxas asked, interested. He followed her lead and started to walk towards the high table, which was again littered with crayons and discarded paper. Her white sandals were again resting beneath the table; he began to wonder if she ever bothered to put them on.

"Can I… see…"

When he reached the table and had settled on his chair, with Naminé settling herself onto her own, something else other than what she was holding caught his eye. It was a piece of paper, dominated mostly by the color blue and brown. Roxas studied it carefully, scrutinizing every detail, even the rough cut that the paper possessed on one edge.

He felt uneasy as he stared at the picture.

"Who's this?"

Naminé put down her sketchpad and looked over at what he was staring at. She was partly glad that she had torn off the other half of the paper, but felt dreadful as she realized what drawing he was scrutinizing.

"Oh…umm, that." She said in her small, quaint voice. "…that's Sora."

* * *

Author's notes: Just a few bits of history here and there. Sorry if it was a bit tedious – I promise you next chapter will be more exciting!

So please support and review: D


	6. The Different Morning Sun

The Number Thirteen

-the different morning sun-

* * *

He looked at it carefully.

Squinting his bright blue eyes, he scrutinized every detail of the drawing – from the widespread grin on the boy's face, to the glint in the boy's familiar blue eyes, to the unique pattern of spikes that adorned the boy's head as hair. He viewed it at angles and even turned it over, taking in every detail that Naminé had put into the picture.

"Oh… that's Sora."

Roxas replied a simple 'oh' as he continued to stare at the picture. It was a drawing of a boy, who was grinning at the viewer, with a crown of spiky brown hair atop his head. He was wearing a white-and-blue jacket and was wearing a heavy-looking silver necklace. Roxas blinked for a few times, being unable to help but feel a distinct familiarity with the boy in the picture.

He sneaked a glance towards the girl who drew it, and found a slight tinge of pink racing across her cheeks. She was also looking away coyly from the picture.

The blonde boy furrowed his eyebrows at the picture of the grinning Sora.

"You know him personally?"

Naminé shot her head up quickly at his question and shook her head frivolously, hand near her chest. Roxas saw all her actions from the corner of her eye, and continued to furrow his brows at the brown-haired boy.

"I…I haven't actually seen him," Naminé said in a quick string of words, "I just…I was just going to draw something out of the blue and that was the result…"

The thirteenth member tilted the paper to one side and stared at Sora's face again. Sora – he continued to look at the paper with a confused and frustrated look on his face, remembering that it was the first name that Naminé had called him with when he first stumbled into the Tower. He slapped one hand to a cheek and started to feel his face around, as if trying to figure out if he looked anything like the boy on paper.

"Roxas? What are you –

"Nothing, nothing." Roxas hastily replied. He put the paper back down, giving it a last (glare-like) look, and went back to Naminé.

Now, it was Naminé's turn to blink.

"So!" he said, changing his tone into an enthusiastic one, "Have you drawn anything else?"

* * *

"Yo!"

He continued to walk down the corridor he had been walking down on for the past few days. The sun was already on its journey down the horizon, and it was their pact that he'd be out of the tower by then.

"Hey loverboy!"

He paid no heed to the voice that was calling him and shoved his hands in his coat's pockets. The day hadn't been as happy and productive as he wanted it to be – in fact, in a subtle way it turned out quite the opposite. He wasn't able to know anything new about Naminé that day, aside from her apparent obsession with a certain brown-haired boy that she hardly knew. This new fact about his special friend wasn't really one he wanted to learn, or even if he wanted to learn it, it wasn't something he was entirely happy with.

Roxas replayed his time together with Naminé in his head. After his discovery of Sora's portrait, there was an awkward feeling between the two of them. It was like the portrait was something he was never supposed to see… and seeing Naminé blush like that because of a boy she hardly knew…

He stopped dead in his tracks, eyes glued to his shoes.

Naminé…she _liked _the boy.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Roxas?" he heard Axel scream in his ear, once Axel had caught up with him. "I've been calling you yet you won't answer!"

"…nothing, nothing."

"Ch, _nothing, _you say." Axel said, snorting. "You suck at lying, do you know that?"

"Well, what the hell's wrong with _you?_" Roxas retorted, snapping his head up. "I haven't done anything to you yet you come at me like you're head's gonna explode or something. You're _certainly _in a bad mood."

Axel glanced at the blonde boy with shifty eyes before sighing. He shoved his hands in his pockets just like Roxas, and started to laugh.

"It's nothing, actually!" Axel said, a big stupid-looking smile on his face. Roxas squinted at the redhead to make sure what he was seeing was real.

"Hey…" he started to say, examining the man's face. "You haven't got any marks."

"What marks?" The older member took out his hands and pressed his fingers on the two green marks below his eyes. "They should be right here." He then continued to press on his cheeks to prove his point.

"No, I don't mean that – I meant that you haven't got scratch marks or wounds or anything of the sort. Normally you should have a cut or so."

Axel stopped pressing his cheeks. "Ah…really?"

"And you're acting really strange today, too." Roxas noted out. He narrowed his eyes and started to examine the blank look that occupied the man's face. He then grinned.

"…Larxene didn't chase you down today, now, did she?"

Axel snorted and side-glanced at him; but the man didn't say anything. At this, Roxas's face lit up.

"You're sad because Larxene didn't come to you now, aren't you!"

"No I'm not!"

"Yes you are!"

"No I am _not!"_

"Geez, for a grown-up you can be such a kid!"

"Take back what you said, you little –

Roxas sneered at Axel and crossed his arms before his chest. "Little what? I'm right, aren't I?"

"No you're not."

"Yes I am."

Silence passed.

"You annoying brat."

"Oh yeah, I'm right."

"Well, it's just that I've gotten used to her, alright?" Axel tried to defend himself, gesturing with his hands to indicate frustration. Roxas cocked his head to one side and raised an eyebrow, looking up at the tall redhead.

"You're trying to act cool but the real thing is you miss her kicking your ass, don't you?"

Axel now glared at him. "She _does not _kick my ass. Anyway, what's up with you? You were just spacing out a while ago so much that you didn't even hear me call you." He made a derisive noise. "I should've singed your ass to a crisp."

"Very funny." Roxas said. He started to resume his walk down the corridor. "Just visited Naminé, that's all…nothing much, really."

"Then why are you getting all upset?" Axel asked, joining the boy.

"I'm not upset."

"Well, you look very much like it."

Roxas blinked at him.

"Told you you suck at lying."

"Like you're better off at it."

Axel dismissed the coming banter with a wave of a hand and a shake of his head. "Anyway, so what happened with you and Naminé?"

"I just…" Roxas paused. He really didn't know if it would be good telling Axel this – knowing Axel, he would only laugh at his face at the stupidity of his problem and smack him hard along his back. He didn't even know why he was so jealous – it was just a stupid drawing of a stupid-looking boy who apparently caught the eye of the girl he was starting to like.

He looked down at his shoes.

The boy…he actually was good-looking, now that Roxas thought of it. Not that he would like the boy for himself, but… the boy wasn't actually stupid-looking at all. He just looked happy at the picture…

Roxas clenched his fist lightly and unclenched it in his pocket.

_Oh well, here goes nothing…_

"Hey Axel, do you know someone named Sora?"

Bright green eyes widened at his question.

Axel stared at the boy. How the hell did he know about the Keyblade Master…?

"Er, nope, haven't heard of him," he replied. "Where do you know him from?"

"I don't really know him," Roxas said. "Naminé does. Saw a picture of him up at the tower…she didn't tell me anything else, though."

The redheaded man narrowed his eyes and sneered. "Hmm…so you're jealous?"

Roxas straightened himself unpredictably and shook his head frivolously, along with an automatic wave of his hands. The older man tried to stifle his laughter.

"Of course n-not!" the blonde replied. "Why the hell would I be j-jealous of a picture? He's just a picture – I mean, N-Naminé said she hasn't even met him, so we're not sure that he really e-exists, right?"

"But you're jealous of the fact that Naminé likes him so much and she hasn't even met him, am I correct?" Axel asked, finally managing to stifle his laughter and form a sneering face. At his question, the boy's face turned into a slight shade of red.

"Of course n-not!"

"Boy, you suck at lying." Axel laughed out loud. "No use in hiding it, Roxas. I understand."

Roxas here regained his composure and grinned. "Of course you understand. You're probably jealous of the book Larxene likes so much but it doesn't even _breathe._"

Axel sputtered a bit before glaring at the boy, in a that-is-not-funny-and-you-know-it kind of manner. "That comeback is so lame and you know it."

"Oh I know it, alright." Roxas said, still grinning, starting to walk towards the other end of the corridor. "Lame because it hit you bull's-eye."

* * *

The morning sun was something that Naminé liked about the strange estate. The morning sun was warm and had just the right amount of brightness, unlike the sun at noon or the sun at afternoon. During noon the sun was too high and it became too hot, while the afternoon sun always had this languid feature about it. Morning was also Naminé's favorite time of day not just because of the sun – it was also the time that she could let Roxas in her tower.

The reason that she didn't let Roxas in whenever the sun had set was a simple one. It was during sunset that the Superior usually checked in on her, seeing if everything was all right and perfect with his little witch. He would ask how she was doing, if there was anything she was dissatisfied about, or if her crayons had already been reduced to small stumps of color with the wrappings neatly torn off.

But his questions were actually useless – even if he did ask her if she had something she didn't like, or if she wanted anything changed, she always lacked the courage to say so. There was something foreboding about the action of telling the Superior that she wasn't happy with her solitude in the tower, or the uneasy feeling that had been residing in her ever since Axel accidentally poured out his raged on her. Besides, even if she did say something to the Superior about it, he'd probably just smile that empty smile of his and say, 'Don't worry, I'll work on it right away', but actually just leave her problem untouched.

Naminé took in a deep breath as she opened the door to the base room of her tower. It was the room that she and Roxas spent their days in, laughing and talking and sometimes scribbling a few doodles here and there. Hopefully the day wouldn't be too different today…seeing that Roxas saw her Sora portrait…

The girl laughed at herself, embarrassed, as she took her place at the table's head. How high did she think of herself, to even think of Roxas getting affected by the Sora portrait? Of course there was no way that the blonde boy would even get an inkling of jealousy in his veins…he…he didn't like her in _that_ way…

She sighed.

'_Yeah, he…he probably doesn't like me that way.'_ She thought bitterly. She frowned slightly and picked up the yellow crayon that was left on the table, the same crayon that Roxas used to color in her hair on a small drawing he made of her.

"Anything of the matter, Naminé?"

The crayon silently fell towards the table and rolled away from her. Her fingers, which were busy twirling the crayon a while ago, now fell silent as the deep voice she knew all too well decided to make itself known. She looked at the window and stared out of it – it was just morning, with the sun having just the right brightness and the right kind of warmth she loved. The sky was even blue, dotted with patches of cottony white.

But the voice, she was sure, was not something from her imagination. It came from behind her, foreboding and mysterious – it sent chills down her spine as she recalled what he had said. It was a question that she had always heard during sunset…but today…

Today was definitely different.

"I have heard you have made a new acquaintance, Naminé," the voice continued to speak. In response she turned around slowly, biting her lip as she did so.

The Superior smiled at her once he saw her face.

"Care to tell?"

* * *

It was a bright morning down at the white castle, Axel noted, as he walked down the empty corridors. He was a stark sore thumb sticking out from a very white hand – with his all-black attire, his fiery crown of spiky red hair and those shockingly bright green eyes of his, he definitely stood out from the white hall he was currently striding through. But he moved just like how the hallway would move, if it was capable to – he languidly strolled around, hands in his pockets, eyes half-shut as he let his feet take him to wherever they wanted to go. Even though it _was_ a bright morning, he wasn't as bright as the sun seemed to be – all he wanted to do was to crawl back into his bed and sleep. Also, without Larxene to suddenly jump out at him and throw yellow flashes of metal aiming at his vital organs, the day didn't appeal to him at all.

But there was something that had been bothering him ever since he had met up with Roxas yesterday night. He had tried to ignore the ideas that were starting to run amok in his head, and had tried to sleep it off, but nothing worked – the thought of Roxas discovering what he really was posed a very, _very_ big threat. And with it posing a very, _very _big threat, Axel was unable to rest. Sure, he could go report it to the Superior immediately, but he was no tattletale – if he did, surely the air in the castle would get definitely uncomfortable, and Roxas would find the darker side of what they call life. The Superior had made it clear to them to not give the blonde boy any hint of the plans behind the Organization unless needed – and this 'unless needed' usually pertained to Xemnas. If evaluated, it was only Xemnas who had the power to inform Roxas of the truth behind the Nobodies and of their existence, of the Organization's plan to utilize Kingdom Hearts and finally be whole.

This was because if they were to contest the Superior's wishes, there was high chance of Roxas fighting back the Organization and leaving it.

Axel furrowed his eyebrows together as he unknowingly made a turn. So what if Roxas saw a picture of his original self? He wasn't sure that Roxas already felt the weird familiarity that he's supposed to feel…the feeling of suddenly wanting something you really don't know. Roxas could've just seen the picture and felt jealous of Sora, and nothing else. Besides, he was a very curious boy – Axel was sure that once something stroked the boy odd, he'd definitely ask him. But all that the blonde asked him was if he knew Sora…

"…do you really want to do this?"

"I'm not yet sure on it…I'm still working things out. But if I already have a concrete plan I'll definitely –

Axel stopped in his tracks, right before a white doorframe.

"If you want, I can help with the planning. I've finished the book – I have plenty of time."

_Book._

He clenched his fists inside his pockets. That voice… it had to be Larxene. But what was she doing down here? As far as Axel could remember, her room was placed in one of the towers in order to utilize her ability to control thunder and lightning…so that if a battle ever comes her way she'd be at an advantage.

The redhead darted his eyes to his left – judging from the view outside, he'd be near the aerial garden. The floating garden would be on his other side, if the wall beside him would be eliminated…and the floating garden was created for the use of –

"Good morning, Axel," someone suddenly said, knocking Axel out from his thoughts. The fire-user took a step forward and took a peek inside the room, where the voice had come from. "Having a nice walk?"

The words had a mocking tone to it, Axel surmised, smirking as he saw who it was. Not one to back down from an all-out verbal fight, he unclenched his fists and stepped forward fully to occupy the man's doorway.

"Having girl talk, I see," Axel said. "Normally one would do that in private, say…the likes of a room with a closed door?"

The man pursed his lips and crossed his legs. "Well, a gentleman such as me and yourself would have enough dignity and integrity to _not_ to eavesdrop on conversations."

Axel made his favorite derisive noise and cocked his head to one side. "For one thing, I'm no gentleman. I'm not a sissy like you, Marluxia."

* * *

Author's notes: Sorry for the delay, but I hope you liked the chapter! Things are moving along and Marluxia gains an appearance yet again:D I sort of feel that Roxas made such a small appearance in this chapter…. I'll make him appear more in the next, so please continue to support and review!

I was actually thinking of using Axel's 'got it memorized', but it struck me that it'd be too much if I used it. So…here you go, Axel's last line…

Thanks again to the people who reviewed and put this in their faves/C2 lists!

Continue to support and review: D


	7. The Appearance

The Number 13

-the appearance-

* * *

He grinned.

It was a beautiful morning outside, with the puffy white clouds dancing against the blue sky, with the sun shining bright. Today was one of those days that he liked the most, and it was the period of day that he liked the best – it would be beneficial for him to sit over the edge of a clock tower during this time of day, since the sun was not too hot, and the rays would be good for him.

Roxas shoved his hands into his pockets as he traversed around the castle on his way to the tower. He felt bad for leaving Naminé some sort of clueless the day before, and he was going to make up for it for getting there early. Besides, dealing with an Axel having postpartum depression with Larxene was a task he wasn't really up for.

He looked down at his shoes as he walked down the corridor. It _had _been rude for him to leave Naminé clueless of what was going on in his head yesterday, with her giving him countless looks of curiosity and whatnot. It had been unfair of him, for whenever he asked something she would happily oblige and answer him. But…yesterday's affair was different. It wasn't exactly something he'd be open to share, his jealousy of a boy…er, who was drawn on paper.

Roxas frowned. He really could be stupid sometimes.

Looking up and seeing the double doors that he had come to know quite well, Roxas pasted a grin on his face. He stopped right in front of them and held each handle – he'd go in and surprise her with this very big and goofy-looking grin and scream 'good morning' so loud she'd wince. He paused for a moment – maybe that'd be too obvious, that he was hiding something…

"What the…"

He averted his blue eyes to the handles he was grasping. He tried to pull the handles towards him, but the doors didn't budge – actually, the handles didn't go all the way, either. They just clicked against their mechanisms but didn't release the doors fully.

He furrowed his eyebrows together.

The doors wouldn't open.

"Alright then," he said to himself, taking in a deep breath. He raised his hand and watched as darkness gathered at his feet. "This'd better work."

He stepped into his newly formed portal and expected to walk out to the stark white room he had come familiar with. But the room he had walked out onto was just the same as where he had come from – the corridor leading to the base of her tower.

Roxas tried again, but he ended with the same result – he kept coming back to where he came from. It was like something from inside the tower was hindering him from getting in.

"Namine?" he asked loudly, now frustrated. He knocked on her doors. "Naminé, are you in there?"

No reply.

"Naminé?"

Hearing no voice replying to his call wasn't something that quelled his worry; in fact, it sort of multiplied it. He started to pound his fist against the door.

"Naminé, are you alright?"

Still no reply.

Roxas took a step back from the door and again, took a deep breath. It had been a long time since he last handled his weapons, but now seemed to be an instance in need of it; he opened his hands and concentrated. In wisps of white and black two blades appeared in his hands, one the famous Oathkeeper, the other the infamous Oblivion.

Spinning the Oathkeeper in his right hand, he parted his feet and swung his Keyblade downward, the tip of his blade directly in line with a door's keyhole. Concentrating on the tip of the Oathkeeper, a ray of light sprung forth – it traveled in a straight, quite visible line, and after it entered the keyhole, a loud click was heard.

Immediately he ran forward and pushed the doors open.

And he was quite surprised by what he saw.

* * *

"Care to tell?"

His smile was not demeaning, not degrading, not mocking – it was a simple smile, but nonetheless, it made her unwillingly cower in her seat. It was still morning, with the sun high up in the clouds, a big bright spot against the bright blue background. He wasn't supposed to be there.

But he was. He was standing right in front of her, with an arm draped across the corner of her table, his bright orange eyes pasted on her face. And he was still smiling, with that strangely simple smile of his.

"…it's…" she tried to start, "It's n-nothing… I mean, I haven't –"

She was struck dumb, though, as she saw the Superior shake his head slightly. He still looked calm and that smile was still on his lips.

"Now, Namine," he said, "You know it's not good to deceive others."

He stopped after that, and tilted his head to one side – he was waiting for her to say it herself, to admit that she had been meeting Roxas and hear it coming from her own mouth. He stared at her imploringly, quite heavily at that, but remained calm – he apparently loved to see people squirm in their seats.

Naminé shifted her gaze and tore it away from him; his tactic wasn't making this easy in any way.

"H-he just stumbled upon this place – I m-mean, we didn't do anything wrong –" she tried to defend. But the Superior was still looking at her imploringly, now with an addition of raised eyebrows. She started to tinker with her fingers.

"Hmm…" He mused. "Didn't do anything wrong? Naminé…what did I tell you a few days ago?"

"…that…that I was not supposed to leave the room."

His imploring gaze stopped at that; the Superior put his head back in its original position and furrowed his eyebrows together, seemingly recalling what he had said. This continued on for a few seconds until he got wind of his exact words, with Naminé fidgeting in her white high chair.

"…I do remember something that I added to that before I sent Larxene off," he said. "I did say that you're not supposed to meet anyone, did I not?"

"Yes, but –

"But what?"

He was now raising one eyebrow toward her, and his smile was cleanly wiped off his face – his mouth formed a thin line, and his orange eyes were unfeeling as ever. There was no trace of emotion in his eyes, they just looked blank – it was the very blankness of it actually, that made shivers run down her spine. His voice was now absent of the fondness it had held before; it was cold and uncaring, no matter how many times she tried to look at it and listen to it in any other way. She had no choice but to quiet herself.

Her bright blue eyes strayed over to her desk, and placed themselves on the yellow crayon that she had been playing with a while ago.

It was the crayon Roxas last used.

"Now…you know that disobedience is something that I don't really advocate here in this Castle." The Superior started, straightening himself up. He started to pace along the long length of Namine's table, running his fingers down the surface; his fingertips brushed against the loose sheets that were scattered on the tabletop, as well as the crayons that were scattered with them. A smile of amusement started to creep onto his face as he continued his tirade.

"Just because you tend to get special treatment, Naminé, doesn't mean that you're exempted from the rules in my Castle." He continued. "What you have done is certainly something I will not let pass by unnoticed – compensation is the key here, and you have to pay for your wrongdoing. Maybe that boy too, for trespassing –

Her eyes flashed towards the yellow crayon.

She clenched her fist.

"…please don't do anything to him."

Xemnas stopped his pacing.

"…pardon?"

"You…you didn't tell him to not meet anyone." She said, voice small and quaint. But her voice was shaking, and her clenched fist was, too; she felt the Superior inch towards her, but refused to meet his eyes.

She took a deep breath.

"I…I was the one who did something wrong."

"So now you're protecting him…?"

"But it's just right, isn't it!" Naminé found herself exclaiming, snapping her head up to meet his orange gaze. "He didn't do anything wrong – he just stumbled into my room! You didn't give him orders not to wander around the Castle! Therefore you shouldn't do anything to him – if –

But her courage ran short. The gaze of the man who rescued her from eternal wandering sapped it all away, just with a single look; she bowed her head low and fumbled with the hem of her dress.

Answering him in such a way was something she had never done, and was something she had never planned to do.

"If what, Naminé?"

She bit her lip before answering.

"…if anyone has to be punished," she whispered, "…it should be me."

For a reason she didn't know of, tears started to brim her eyes. Her fingers were now fumbling incessantly with her dress, and a sob started to swell up in her throat. It had been a long time since she cried…she didn't think the next time would be in front of the Superior.

She didn't know how the Superior would react. Was he going to laugh at her face and lecture her on how stupid she was for reasoning out to him like that? Was he going to scold her for daring to answer him in a way that no Organization member answered? Was he, in a rare occasion, going to actually consider her argument and let Roxas go scot-free?

Naminé tried to fight back the sob that was threatening to escape her throat.

"It should be you, then?" she heard him say. Strangely enough, wonder was etched in his voice.

"Yes."

"Why do you think so, Naminé?"

She didn't know what to say. Why _did_ she defend Roxas…? She could've used Roxas as a scapegoat and let _herself_ go scot-free.

Xemnas eyed her.

"Is it because you care?" he asked, this time his voice getting a bit incredulous. He sounded like he was near the edge of laughter. "You must be delusional."

"I am not –

"Naminé," Xemnas started, as calmly as he could, "By now, you should now of what we really are – Nobodies, mere shells of cowards who succumbed to the dark side, but having hearts strong enough to make us exist. We have no heart, we only have our mind and body – we're not even supposed to exist, at all." He feigned a sigh. "But yet here we are, inviolable existences, roaming the earth with no purpose at all. We're not supposed to care, Naminé, for you have no heart to – those _feelings _you feel are nothing but pitiful shadows of what they are supposed to be. You'd best ignore them, Naminé, for they are nothing but trash –"

Xemnas removed his hand from the table's surface. Loud banging started to come from the double doors of the tower; apparently, someone was trying to get in.

There was a muffled yell of "Naminé!" from the other side of the doors.

"He's here, isn't he?"

"_Naminé, are you alright! Open the door!"_

Her fingers stopped fumbling.

"Roxas…"

The Superior raised an eyebrow and took a step back from the table's edge. He raised his hand and a pool of darkness started to gather at his feet, with strings of dark matter rising up to engulf him. The blonde girl, meanwhile, snapped her head from the vanishing figure and the door.

"This will continue sometime," the Superior said, smiling at her again, ignoring the tears that started to run down her cheeks. His orange eyes disappeared as the darkness pulled him in – there was a flash of light, and the doors banged open; as she tried to blink the tears away, she could see someone standing by the doorway.

And then, she heard his voice.

"Naminé! What's wrong?"

* * *

Author's notes: I am so, so, sorry for the late update. You see, for the past two weeks (or so) I have started college (…freshman…o.o), so it's been pretty hectic lately. I'm really sorry if it's short, too.

Anyway, thank you all so much for your kind reviews and favors by putting them in your faves and C2's! I hope to see you in the next chapters, and hopefully next chapter will not be that boring.

Please continue to support and review!


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